Strangers in Paradise: To Whom It May Concern
by ofperkins
Summary: Twenty years after finding the book that would change their lives, four friends are drawn into another conspiracy, this one more sinister than any they've encountered yet, as they find themselves caught between an old friend and and old enemy. Spoilers, moderate suggestive themes and mild violence.
1. Prologue

_Almost twenty years ago, Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany were thrown onto a mysterious island of beauty, intrigue and treachery after finding a book buried in the desert sands. They met and freed their host, a man called Atrus, from the prison where he had been stranded by his sons. Several months later, they helped Atrus again by rescuing his wife, Catherine, from her prison on her home world ruled over by Atrus' father. Doing so allowed the four strangers to return home via the same path that brought the book to them originally._

_Safely home, the four strangers thought that was the last they would see of Atrus and his books, until he turned up on their doorstep ten years later, inviting them to come and see the new home he had crafted for his people, the D'ni. Before they could, however, a man appeared in Atrus' new home and stole the book linking them to the new D'ni home world, Releeshahn. It was up to the strangers to recover the book from the hands of a vengeful, broken man._

_With Atrus, Catherine and their new daughter Yeesha now living on the surface, not too far from the desert compound where Jordan and Rachel live, the four strangers were able to maintain a closer friendship with Atrus and Catherine. But ten years later, things were about to flare up again as old wounds reopened and threatened to create more chaos in their lives than ever before..._

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Alone on the age written as a prison for the greedy, he stands. He's close now. It won't be long. A few days at most... less if he's lucky. And then... then it would be time. Time at last. A twenty year hiatus was not going to stop him... only make him more determined. He sat down and looked up at the sky.

"It's time, Father. It's time."

* * *

><p>"What's cooking?"<p>

Rachel turned around to see Maddy in the kitchen doorway. She smiled.

"Lasagne. Have a seat."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah." Rachel straightened up and smiled again. "You can have a seat. The last time you helped me cook, I had to buy a new oven."

Maddy grinned as she sat down. "Good times." She paused. "I can't believe Britt and Irvan have been going for two years now."

Rachel set the timer. "I can't believe she picked up a D'ni guy."

"I can't believe she picked up anyone."

"Oh, come on," replied Rachel. "Any guy would be lucky to have her."

"Then explain why she's been single for the entire twenty-five years I've known her, except the last two? There's playing hard to get, and then there's just being stubborn."

"Have you looked at the male population of this town? All the guys who are any good are taken."

"Like Jordan."

"Like Jordan. Thank you for acknowledging my good taste in men."

"You've dated literally two men in your entire life, one of whom you've been married to for nearly thirteen years. You've been dating for how long?"

"Since I was fifteen." Rachel paused, then continued somewhat defensively. "Yeah, well, I kinda fell for him. Best decision of my life to ask him out." She cleared her throat. "But as I was saying, most of the men that aren't taken aren't worth more than one date. And those that are fall apart when you get to – well, you know what I mean."

"Oh, come on."

"I'll prove it." Rachel sat down at the table. "How many men have you dated recently?"

"Recently? Like, in the past two years?"

"Okay, sure."

Maddy pasued, counting under her breath. "Seven."

"Okay. How many of those did you have more than one date with?"

Maddy paused again, counting. "Three."

"So presumably you thought that those three were reasonable prospects for a serious relationship."

"Well, yeah."

"And how many of those did you break off with after sleeping with them?"

Maddy blushed. "Three." She paused. "Okay, now I get what you're saying."

"Yeah." Rachel grinned cheekily.

The front door opened and Jane came barrelling into the kitchen, almost knocking Maddy off her chair. Not only was it Friday, it was the beginning of the summer holidays, and Jane, just like any ten-year-old at such a time, was not short of energy.

"Hi Mum hi Mad school was good Dad's coming see you," said Jane with one breath whilst still moving, and barrelled out the door, only to be stopped by her father catching her by the shoulder.

"Don't forget, Brittany and her boyfriend are coming for dinner tonight," said Jordan, smiling despite himself. Jane sighed.

"I know..."

"So you have to come out and eat with us."

"I know..."

"It's lasagne."

"I know..."

"I'm sure it'll mean a lot to Brittany."

"I know..."

"Did you give your mother a kiss?"

Jane paused. "Yes."

"No," weighed in Rachel. Jordan chuckled.

"Go on, get back in there."

Jordan and Jane entered the kitchen. Jane went quickly to Rachel, kissed her, and left the room in a hurry. Jordan stood by the door looking out until he heard the door close, then turned and came over to the table.

"Hi, Rach." He kissed her, then sat down. "Hey, Mop."

"Hello, dear," smiled Rachel. "How was work?"

"Well, you know... it's a sorting office... I sort letters."

"Sounds like a hoot," said Maddy, getting up. "Mind if I make a cup of tea?"

"I'll do it," said Jordan, getting up, "I could go for one myself."

"Sit down," replied Maddy with a wave, "I'll do it."

Jordan sat back down. Rachel looked at him with a slight smile, and Jordan shrugged. There was a knock at the front door.

"Come in," called Jordan. The front door opened; Brittany entered the lounge room and made her way to the kitchen.

"Ah, here she is. The lovebird," said Maddy with a devilish grin, making Brittany blush.

"So two years, Britt?" intervened Jordan. "You must have found yourself a keeper."

"I hope so," replied Brittany enthusiastically. "He's handsome, caring, quiet, good at listening..."

"Well endowed..." ventured Maddy.

"Gahro tiwah," shot back Brittany. "If you can't work out what that means there is something wrong with you."

There was another knock at the front door. Brittany got up to answer it. Jordan turned to Maddy.

"Be supportive, Mop. It's great that Britt has a steady boyfriend. You're her friend; you should be happy for her."

"I am," replied Maddy. "I just like teasing her. It's our routine."

The oven timer went off. Rachel got up to get the lasagne out. Jordan looked at his watch, then leant back on his chair and called out the kitchen door.

"Food's ready, you two!" There was a pause and some giggling. Jordan sighed. "Also, there's a time and place for everything and my lounge room is not the place!"

Brittany entered the kitchen again, this time accompanied by a tall, youngish man with pale blue eyes, light brown hair and goggles on his head. Jordan gestured for them to sit down with one hand whilst accepting a cup of tea from Maddy with the other.

"Hi, Irvan," said Rachel over her shoulder whilst cutting up lasagne. "How are you?"

"Not bad, thank you, Rachel," replied Irvan, pronouncing her name correctly as he had learnt to do but still with a rather heavy accent on the A. "How are you?"

"Dreading the impending school holidays," replied Rachel with the sigh of an already-tired mother. "Hopefully we can fob Jane off on Atrus and Catherine for a bit. They didn't mind too much last time..."

* * *

><p>About an hour and a half later, after they had all eaten and were sitting talking in the lounge room (Jane somewhat reluctantly), Irvan stood and stretched.<p>

"Well, I don't mean to be rude," he said with a sigh, "but I should probably get going. Thank you very much for the delicious dinner." He shook hands with Jordan, Rachel and Jane, tried to shake hands with Maddy but got roped into hugging her, kissed Brittany and turned back to Rachel.

"If it's not too much trouble... would you mind if I used your Eder B'lontahv linking book? I would go back to Britt's house and use hers, but it's already fifth gahrtahvo on Releeshahn and I need to be up early tomorrow."

"Oh! Of course," replied Rachel, and fetched the slightly worn book from its stand in the bedroom. She flicked it open to the last page and offered the panel to Irvan.

"Thank you." He patted himself down, in his characteristic way of making sure he hadn't left anything behind. "Oh! I almost forgot." He pulled an envelope out of his top pocket. "Atrus asked me to give you this." He handed the envelope to Jordan, who flicked his glasses onto the end of his nose and looked down at the envelope. It was neatly addressed in Atrus' handwriting to him, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany.

"Okay, thanks," said Jordan, and slit the envelope open.

"You're welcome," replied Irvan. There was a brief pause. "I should probably go in case that's private stuff. Bye."

"Yeah, see you later," said Maddy with a smile.

"Behave yourself," said Irvan to Brittany with a grin. He touched his right hand to the book held out by Rachel and was consumed by the air with a roar and rush of wind.

"So come on, Jordan," said Brittany, "read the letter."

* * *

><p><em>My friends,<em>

_Please accept my apologies for not being able to attend your dinner today. Catherine and I have been distracted by other matters of late. I am, however, writing to ask you a favour._

_Twenty years ago you freed me from my prison in K'veer and helped me to save Catherine and imprison my father for good. For that alone I can never thank you enough. And then, ten years later you helped Catherine and I start our new life in Tomahna and restore the D'ni civilization by rescuing the Releeshahn book from Saavedro. I will never be able to thank you enough for that. And yet, I must ask more of you. But first, I must make a confession._

_You see, my friends, for the last twenty years I've harboured a secret. People – the D'ni, people of other ages, even Catherine – talk about my sons, and the evil things they did to my ages and their inhabitants. But I have always remained silent on this subject. I do not talk about those events, or the rage that filled me as I burned the two books that had ensnared them._

_You never asked me about those books. I should have told you then, but I foolishly remained silent. You see, some people believe my sons were killed in those fires. But the truth is, they were not._

_My friends, there is much more to this story, but I must tell you myself rather than in a letter. You are the only ones I can possibly confide in. So I need you to come to Tomahna tomorrow morning. There are things I must tell you about my sons._

_Your indebted friend, Atrus._

* * *

><p>As Jordan finished reading the letter, there was silence in the room. Finally, Jane spoke up.<p>

"So we're going to Tomahna tomorrow?"

"Looks like it," replied Rachel.

"Well, we'll be here bright and early in the morning, then," sighed Maddy. "Loving the early starts on Saturday morning."


	2. Spark

**1 – Spark**

Brittany's watch alarm beeped. It wasn't a loud beep, but she did have the watch right next to her ear, so it was loud enough. She sat up with a groan.

It looked like she was the first one awake. She got up off the mattress on the floor and went into the kitchen. Digging through the cupboards, she finally found what she was looking for – coffee powder. She scooped several helpings into a pot and put it on to boil. As she was doing so, there was a light, almost tentative tap on the front door. Not hearing anyone else stir, Brittany went to the door and opened it a crack.

It was already very bright outside. She was slowly beginning to understand why Atrus and Irvan wore goggles when up here. Shielding her eyes, Brittany saw a young girl, about ten years old, wearing a button-up shirt, light cardigan and long skirt, all in brown earthy colours, with her long fair hair tied back in a ponytail and a large blue stone hanging from a chain around her neck. She looked up at Brittany.

"Hiya, Britt," she said. "Anyone still asleep?"

"Yeah, everyone else is," replied Brittany. "Come in."

Brittany opened the door fully and Yeesha came in. The two of them went into the kitchen, where the coffee pot was beginning to whine. Brittany took it off the boil and poured herself a cup.

"You want anything to eat?"

"Nah, Mum always makes me eat breakfast." Yeesha sat down. "Dad sent me over to make sure you got his letter."

"Yep, we did," replied Brittany, sipping her coffee. "Irvan gave it to us."

"Cool," said Yeesha. "So when are you coming over?"

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, everyone else had awoken and was busy either drinking coffee, eating breakfast or both. Yeesha and Jane were talking non-stop about a vast array of things, Rachel was continuing her conversation with Maddy from the other night about relationships, and Jordan and Brittany were discussing Atrus' letter.<p>

"Yeah, school's finished for two months now..."

"...no, I expect he wants us to..."

"...it is hard, but if you look enough..."

"...but why would he want..."

"...the key is not to..."

"...Dad is teaching me how to..."

"...he might want to consult..."

"...comes down to how much you're..."

"...must be more interesting than..."

"...most of them just want sex."

Unluckily for Rachel, this was exactly where the conversation froze so that the entire room heard her. She blushed slightly.

"So, uh... ready to go?"

* * *

><p>As always, the sunroom on Tomahna glistened with the light of the new day. The wind whispered softly as the six of them linked in, and the chimes tinkled softly as the wind passed them. Together, they made their way up to the observatory.<p>

Jordan, Rachel and Jane went first – they worked out that the elevator could not comfortably accomodate more than three at a time – quickly followed by Brittany, Maddy and Yeesha. It was beautifully lit, mainly because of the huge round window overlooking the rest of Tomahna.

"I'll go find Dad," said Yeesha, and disappeared with Jane back into the elevator. Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany stepped up to the large window and looked out over Tomahna.

The location that Atrus and Catherine had found for their new home ten years ago was amazingly perfect. It was situated in a fairly large valley in the deep desert, away from all traces of exploration by the people of the surface, built around a smallish freshwater lake. The buildings were all precisely the same – round, domed buildings, about half a dozen (not counting the one they were standing in), linked by walkways and the elevator.

Although the desert surrounding Tomahna was more or less featureless, excepting the volcano visible on the horizon, the area around the valley was teeming with natural beauty, most of which stemmed from the small amount of plant life that thrived around the lake, and also from the small birds that were often seen flying around. Really, Rachel thought, it would be a beautiful area even if it wasn't Tomahna, which was probably why Atrus and Catherine had chosen this area as their home. From this perspective, the valley always reminded Maddy just a little bit of Voltaic, the lesson age of energy that she, Jordan and Rachel had visited ten years ago.

As the four of them stood at the window, immersed in Tomahna's beauty, the elevator door opened behind them with a whirr and Atrus stepped out. The four visitors greeted their host with the usual handshakes and hugs before Atrus started off on one of his spiels.

"Well, my friends, you're probably wondering why I've asked you here... the truth is, I need your help."

"Something to do with your sons?" asked Brittany. Atrus nodded.

"Yes, that's right. As you know, they were trapped twenty years ago on two separate prison ages after they destroyed many of the ages in my library on Myst, shortly before I met the four of you. Yes... well, at that time, Catherine and I decided that it would be best to leave them imprisoned. We'd hoped that it might reform them, you see. Anyway... it's been twenty years now, and Catherine believes our sons should be released."

At this point, Atrus' audience stiffened visibly. All four of them remembered how they had diced with possible death twenty years ago by almost freeing Sirrus and Achenar. Atrus noticed this reaction, and pressed on quickly.

"You see, I'm not convinced. So I think it would be best to have an objective opinion. That's where you four come in. What I -"

"Wait, wait, wait," interrupted Jordan. "You want us to help you decide if Sirrus and Acheanr have reformed enough to be released?" Atrus nodded. Jordan glanced at the other three before continuing. "Well, naturally we'd be happy to help you, Atrus, but I wonder how you can see us as objective. After all, we were very nearly victims of their manipulation ourselves."

"That's true," replied Atrus, "but you did manage to see through them, something with Catherine and I failed miserably at. The four of you are the only people who really understand the situation Catherine and I are in, and because you don't have the subjectivity of them being family, you're the only ones we can trust to give us a genuine opinion on whether or not either Sirrus or Achenar do deserve to be freed."

There was silence for a minute, then Jordan spoke again. "All right... so what's the plan? We can't exactly go to the prison ages, can we?"

"Well, yes, we can," replied Atrus. "I wrote a secure linking chamber into each one that allows visitors to come and go without releasing Sirrus or Achenar. But we're not going to the ages yet. First, I want to show you the ages before we go there using my old crystal viewer." He gestured to the device behind him. "I've made a few changes to it recently to allow it to function in Tomahna. I've also added a sound component, so we can listen in on an age, but I haven't calibated the sound panel to be able to pick up either Spire or Haven yet. Would you mind giving me a hand with that, one of you?"

Jordan, Rachel and Maddy all looked at Brittany, who shrugged her agreement and stepped up to the panel on the wall that Atrus pointed at.

"All right..." muttered Atrus, examining a panel on the crystal viewer. "What I'm going to do is transmit a wave form being put out by Haven. It should appear in your right-hand monitor. Okay... here it comes."

A high-pitched hum filled the air suddenly, and Rachel grimaced. Atrus glanced up. "Oh, sorry about that... I couldn't work out how to stop it doing that. But do you see the wave, Brittany?"

"Yes," replied Brittany.

"Good. Now, we have to manipulate the blue line until it matches that yellow wave exactly. The blue line is the result of two superimposed..."

Atrus carried on for quite a while in the way that the four of them knew him so well for. Eventually, he started to instruct Brittany on use of the panel. Brittany knew a little about wave forms, and proved fairly adept at manipulating the signals. It didn't take her long to get a lock on Haven's signal. Spire's signal took her a bit longer, as it was more complex than Haven's, but eventually she stepped back from the panel with a triumphant smile on her face. Atrus straightened up and turned back to the four of them.

"Excellent. Well done, my friend. We should be able to hear both prison ages now. So, let's begin, shall we?"

Before Jordan could respond, a sudden small explosion rocked the observatory. The five of them stumbled, trying to keep their footing. Smoke was rising from the panel that Atrus had been using a minute ago. Atrus frowned.

"What in the name of -"

He was interrupted by another explosion, this time coming from a largish round device suspended just above the sound panel. This triggered several more explosions, culminating finally in a much larger one. The five of them ducked the flying sparks and threw their hands over their heads.

A minute later, when the chaos had subsided, they straightened up. The large ball that had exploded was still sparking slightly, and the viewer panel was still smoking heavily, but the explosions had stopped. Atrus went cautiously over to the viewer and examined it, muttering to himself, before turning back again to Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany.

"Okay... a slight change in plans, my friends. It looks like the explosion shut down the main power supply and damaged the viewer's external image modulator. Fortunately, the viewer itself looks undamaged, so I'm going to go and get my spare image modulator from Rime. So while I'm gone, why don't the four of you get the power restored? Go to the waterwheel control room and close both emergency release gates. Once you've done that, come back here and use the viewer to contact me. If you look in my journal there you'll find the crystal combination to view Rime." He gestured to a drawer in his desk. "The backup power will keep the elevator running but only between here and the station below; you won't be able to cross the lake." He pulled a book off his shelf and flicked it open to the last page. "Oh, and you'll need to turn on the roof antenna before the viewer will work. And keep an eye on Yeesha for me, would you?"

"Of course," replied Rachel, remembering how many times Atrus and Catherine had watched Jane for her and Jordan when they had to go out of town.

"Thanks... I'll be back soon."

* * *

><p>He stands, smiling. At last. At long last. He's finally got it.<p>

He gathers his wits about him. More... he needs some more. In case they're needed. After all, he can't go unarmed. He fetches his bag and gathers four or five. There... that should be plenty.

He rests for a minute, then goes to the chamber. The supposedly impenetrable chamber. He stands just feet away from his freedom. He can taste it. And soon it will be his.

It's time. Bag ready. Fist ready. Nerves steady.

He raises his fist. He is on edge. What if it doesn't work properly? What if the book gets destroyed? What if -

No! Nothing can go wrong. He's planned this to perfection.

He counts himself down. Sehn... bree... fah... roon!

He opens his fist and hurls the contents into the chamber, then runs. A perfect piercing note fills the air, followed by a shattering rumble. He straightens up and returns to the chamber. The impenetrable chamber... He grins. Oh yes. I finally did it.

He steps over the debris and through the broken bars. He opens the small capsule in front of him.

Yes... there it is. He opens the book.

Twenty years, he's waited for this. He touches the book and steps forward into darkness.

* * *

><p>"Oh come on. Surely we can get this."<p>

Jordan, Rachel, Maddy and Brittany stood in front of the power supply box in Catherine's study. After Yeesha had informed them that something had apparently gone wrong with the backup power, they had determined that this was why they couldn't close the release gates on the waterwheel as Atrus had instructed. It was clear that this box could be used to manually redirect the backup power to several vital pieces of equipment around Tomahna, including the elevator and the two waterwheel gates. It was clear that the gates needed to be powered to enable the four of them to close them and restore the power across Tomahna, but actually doing so was proving to be quite a struggle. Brittany stepped back, conceding defeat. All four of them had now tried, and all four of them had failed.

"Why can't we solve this?" sighed Maddy. "We're supposed to be intelligent."

At this point, Jane entered the room and joined the group.

"I thought you were with Yeesha?" asked Jordan.

"Yeah," sighed Jane, "but she had to go practise her music." The five of them heard a high, musical piping sound, a little like a flute, coming from one of the greenhouses. Jane smiled cheerfully. "So I thought I'd let her get on with it and come see what you were doing." She paused. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to power the waterwheel release gates so that we can restore the main power supply," replied Maddy. "Except we can't seem to redirect the power."

Jane stepped forward and peered at the box. "Cool. Let me try."

"Oh, I don't think that -"

Rachel was cut off by Maddy. "Let her try, Rach. No harm in teaching her to think logically about this stuff.

"I suppose not," sighed Rachel. "It's just that we sort of need to get this power back on soon, and -"

"Hey, look, I made the lights blink," chirped Jane offhandedly.

"Okay, she totally solved it," reported Brittany after looking at the panel. "I think she might be a genius."

Jane grinned cheekily. "Told ya, Mum. Even Britt agrees."

* * *

><p>Maddy pressed the button on the waterwheel controls. There was a rattling clank, and the covers for the two release gates dropped down, pulling the main covers up. Water poured down onto the wheel, making it turn, slowly at first, but then faster and faster. There was a click, and a small device next to the wheel started crackling with electricity. The five of them smiled triumphantly.<p>

"We did it," said Maddy as they walked away from the wheel. Jane gave her a look. "I said 'we'."

"Suit yourself," sighed Jane. "And stop bouncing up and down, you're making the bridge shake."

"I'm not bouncing up and down," replied Maddy, puzzled. All five of them stopped. Jane was right; the bridge was shaking. It had been fairly slight at first, but now it was beginning to pick up. It wasn't just the bridge, either – the ground was shaking as well. The five of them grabbed hold of the railings and each other, too frightened to try and get off the bridge.

The supports holding the bridge into the rock began to slip, and the bridge dipped violently.

"What the hell is -"

There was a sudden flash and glow of green light from the rock under Atrus and Catherine's bedroom, then an explosion rocked the five terrified bystanders as the bridge finally gave way.

* * *

><p><em>Unfortunately, I was not able to work out how to include the Tomahna gondola in this story - it just seemed out of place and a little unnecessary, given the fact that they have Eder B'lontahv for such transport.<em>


	3. Chaser

**2 – Chaser**

Maddy slowly slipped back into consciousness. Her mind began to tick over and make up for lost time. Her internal dialogue began piping up again.

Ah. My head hurts. Ouch.

I think I might have been drinking. I feel very hung over.

I don't remember any drinks. But then again, do I ever?

Wait, wait, wait. We were on Tomahna, and we'd fixed the power, and something blew up the bridge.

Ow, my head.

So where am I now?

Open your eyes and get up.

Go on, do it. I want to see where I am.

Come on. Eye open, sit up.

Ow, my head.

Open your eyes, you idiot!

Maddy opened her eyes. Her vision was blurred slightly, but she could see the night sky. That was about all. She finally managed to sit up.

Her glasses had fallen off her face. Where were they? Ah, there they were, in the water. Astonishingly not broken. She picked them up and slipped them on.

She was sitting in a shallow part of the Tomahna lake, amidst the rubble that constituted the remains of the bridge. A quick glance around showed her that, astonishingly, nothing else appeared to be damaged. Scattered around her were planks of wood, bits of stone, metal, and four other bodies. She crawled over to Jordan, her head still swimming, and shook him.

"Jordan. Jordan!"

Jordan groaned and opened his eyes. "Oh... Maddy. Where on earth are we?"

"Tomahna," replied Maddy, "sitting in the lake."

Jordan sat up with another groan and rubbed a hand over his eyes. "Why are we – oh, right. The bridge."

The two of them roused Rachel, Brittany and Jane, before the five of them clambered out of the lake using the most intact part of the bridge as a ladder.

"Is everyone okay?"

"Just a bit of a bruise," replied Jordan, "I'll be fine."

"I think I landed on my keys," muttered Rachel.

"I broke a nail," said Jane, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

"Britt?" asked Maddy, who had posed the question in the first place.

Brittany was sitting on the ground, grimacing. "I think I sprained my ankle. It hurts like hell."

Jordan, who knew a little about this sort of thing (not nearly as much as Brittany herself did, but since she was in pain her medical reasoning was rather clouded), bent down and gently examined Brittany's ankle.

"Apologies in advance, Britt... does it hurt if I do this?"

Brittany swore very loudly. Rachel covered Jane's ears. Jordan straightened up. Brittany, slightly embarrassed, cleared her throat.

"Uh... yes, Jordan. It does."

"So I gathered. Well, the good news is that your ankle is not sprained."

"Really?" Brittany grimaced even as she said this. "Then why does it hurt, pray tell?"

"That's the bad news," replied Jordan. "It's not sprained, it's broken. I think we'd better get you to hospital."

"Bugger that," replied Brittany, whose normally polite speech had been loosened slightly by the pain. "What am I supposed to tell them? The bridge blew up whilst visiting a friend? No way, Jordan. I've got a much better idea."

* * *

><p>Atrus packed the last of the necessary materials into the box he'd brought with him. Finally... what had ever possessed him to bolt the thing down in this weather? The bolts had frozen solid and he'd spent all day getting them undone. Right... time to get going.<p>

There was a terrific crash from outside. Atrus jumped about a foot in the air and nearly dropped the box containing the image modulator (which would have been disastrous). He set the box down, chiding himself for his skittishness, and opened the door.

Even without going to the elevator, he could tell what was happening. The air was positively crackling with electricity. Atrus' hair was standing on end. When Atrus approached the elevator, the light on the door was blinking red.

Great, thought Atrus. It's another electromagnetic storm, and it feels like a big one. The electromagnetic interference is stopping the electromagnets in the elevator from working properly, which means I can't get to the linking book. Looks like I'm here for the long haul. I'd better just sit tight and wait for the others to call on the viewer.

* * *

><p>He sits, quietly biding his time. Just waiting. She'll be here soon. With Tomahna empty, this is absolutely her next port of call. And when she shows... he'll get her. That's the hard part taken care of. All he needs then is a few globes and a little bit of time. He's waited twenty years for this moment, and that will only make it taste sweeter.<p>

He snaps to attention. Hairs standing on end. Someone's coming. Crouch. Wait... there's the link. Look out slowly... who is it?

Yes... he knew it. Okay... wait... got to time this perfectly. If she's too close to the book, she'll be back to Tomahna in a flash... if she's too far away, she'll be off to those meddling Protectors before you can say "transfer".

Now!

* * *

><p>"Okay... you should be fine, but don't put too much pressure on it for the next few days at least."<p>

Brittany tested herself gently on her good foot and crutch. She was wobbly, but at least she could walk.

"It's not too bad a break," continued Dahk, "so you should be fine in two weeks or so."

"Thank you so much, Dahk," replied Brittany. "I don't know what I would have done without you."

Dahk smiled, looking a little puzzled. "Surely you have Healers on the surface?"

"Well, yes," said Brittany, "but our Healers – doctors, we call them – are not nearly as good as you D'ni Healers."

"Well, it's a pleasure," replied Dahk. "Any friend of Atrus is a friend of all D'ni."

The five of them left the Healers' Guild Hall slowly, to accommodate Brittany's foot, and made their way over to the common library.

"You see, Jordan?" said Brittany, grinning. "I told you D'ni doctors – Healers, rather – are much better than our doctors."

"And you were right, as always," replied Jordan. "What's the time?"

"Surface time is..." Brittany struggled to look at her watch. "About five o'clock in the morning."

"Okay. Well, you can't go home. Clearly we're all going to have to stay together... just like old times."

Brittany was about to argue, but immediately saw the sense in what Jordan was saying. "Okay, fair enough. But there's no point going to bed now. Let's go back to Tomahna and make some breakfast. Yeesha's an early riser, she'll be hungry soon, and I don't think Atrus is home yet. Because he would have come looking for us," she answered the unspoken question.

The five of them linked to Tomahna and collectively bunny-hopped their way over to the elevator to go over to the kitchen. Brittany sat down on the couch with a groan and put her crutch to the side. Rachel and Maddy darted into the kitchen to find something to eat. Jane drifted out onto the balcony and looked down at Yeesha's room.

"Hey, Yeesha's light is on," she chirped. She yanked at the lever to move the bridge and dashed down towards her friend's room before Jordan could stop her. A few seconds later, however, she came back up, looking a little confused.

"Yeesha isn't down there."

Jordan frowned. "That's strange. Maybe she's already up." Even as he said it, however, he doubted himself. They hadn't seen her on their way through Tomahna – and come to think of it, why hadn't she come looking for them and discovered them in the lake? Jordan's gut was beginning to get worried. "Let's go for a walk, Jane."

Jordan and Jane went back over to the elevator to have a look around. Rachel and Maddy emerged from the kitchen.

"That's weird, isn't it?" said Rachel. "Catherine told me not long ago that Yeesha liked to sleep late. I was jealous."

"I'm sure there's a reason," replied Brittany, repositioning her foot. "Maybe she wanted to be up early to check on one of her experiments."

"You're probably right," said Maddy. "I'm sure it's all fine."

"Mum! Mad! Britt!"

"Or maybe not." Maddy and Rachel dashed off in the direction of Jane's shout. Brittany looked as they vanished.

"Yeah, okay, thanks," she muttered, grabbing her crutch, heaving herself up off the couch and hobbling off after them.

* * *

><p>Rachel and Maddy found Jane and Jordan in Atrus and Catherine's bedroom.<p>

"What's going on?"

Jane, who had been kneeling on the floor in front of the fireplace, held up her hand. She was holding a largish, heavy chain in her hand, suspended from which was a large blue stone. Rachel and Maddy looked at it curiously.

"What is -"

Brittany hobbled into the room after them.

"Thanks for the help, guys." She spotted the chain in Jane's hand. "Hey, isn't that Yeesha's necklace?"

"Yeah," replied Jane. "She treasures this thing. And it was just lying on the ground there in the fireplace." She pointed at the fireplace. The five of them bent down towards the fireplace.

A single clear chiming note pierced the air softly. Jane looked at the necklace in her hand. The blue stone was glowing. Cautiously, she touched it.

_Running. She looks back over her shoulder. He's behind her. She stumbles. Makes it to the fireplace. He's hot on her heels. She grabs for the button. Once. Twice. He's reaching in. Grasping, finding only her necklace. The gears mesh and the door closes. He jerks his hand back. Her necklace falls to the ground._

Jane gasped and dropped the necklace. She blinked several times.

"What happened?"

"I – I'm not sure," stuttered Jane. "I saw... something. When I touched the necklace."

"Isn't that thing supposed to be able to pick up memories?" asked Brittany. "What did you see?"

"I – I saw Yeesha being chased into the fireplace. She looked really scared."

"Who was chasing her?"

"I don't know... I didn't see."

Rachel frowned. "I don't like this at all. I think something happened to Yeesha while we were unconscious in the lake."

"So what do we do?"

"I think we have to go upstairs and contact Atrus. Hopefully he can help us."

* * *

><p>Right. The hard part is done. No time to waste. It's going to take really quite a while for him to get the chair ready to go again, seeing as he had turned everything off before leaving here twenty years ago. So... at least a day or two. Shame he couldn't have got it all set up and then nabbed Yeesha. That was originally his intention. But when he had had to use that bomb to get out of the linking chamber, then ran into her in the bedroom like that... he had no choice.<p>

* * *

><p>Brittany sat with Atrus' journal in front of her, fiddling with the crystal viewer. The others had gone to search Tomahna for anything that might be able to help them locate Yeesha. Brittany decided that she would try and contact Atrus using the viewer, since she was not likely to be much of a help with a broken ankle.<p>

Atrus' drawings of the crystal shapes were fortunately fairly clear – some of the crystals were a bit similar in shape, and Brittany had learnt from past experience that some drawings could be easily confusing. With Atrus' clear drawings, however, Brittany was quickly able to key the appropriate combination into the viewer. When she pressed the centre button to establish contact, the dull whine of the static changed pitch several times before Atrus' face swam into view on the screen. Something was clearly wrong, however, as the image and sound were both choked with static, and Brittany had to lean close to hear what Atrus said.

"...ah, my friends, are you there?" Atrus squinted. It was clear that his connection was as bad as Brittany's was. "I really hope you're getting this, because I'm barely receiving you. Listen, there's a terrible electromagnetic storm here on Rime, and I can't get home until it's over. But I know what you can do in the meantime – go to my desk in my bedroom. Below the top drawer you'll see a symbol. Press on it to open two compartments; the commentaries I wrote on Haven and Spire are inside. Okay?"

"Atrus, I -"

"Oh, and tell Yeesha not to forget her homework. She -"

The static surged suddenly and the image dissolved into swirling grey particles before settling down into the calm static of the idle image. The dull whine of the static returned, as Brittany cursed in frustration. She pressed the button again, but the connection refused to reopen, instead seeing the screen splutter with static like an engine refusing to start. After trying a few more times, Brittany sighed in defeat and sat back.

The elevator opened behind her and Maddy stepped out. Brittany turned on her chair to greet her.

"Any luck?"

"No," sighed Maddy, "I've drawn a blank. The others are still looking, but I'm not confident. What about you?"

"Well," replied Brittany, "I managed to make contact with Atrus, but there's a big storm going on there and it was interfering with the connection. He can't get back here until the storm dies down."

"What did he say when you told him what happened?"

"I didn't have a chance to tell him. He had only just finished talking when the connection dropped out, and I haven't been able to reopen it."

"Well..." Maddy sighed. "We have to try and work out what's happened."

"You're right," replied Brittany. "And I think I know where to start."


	4. Chamber

**3 – Chamber**

"All right, Britt... what's your thoughts?"

Jordan, Rachel, Maddy, Brittany and Jane were all seated at the table outside the Tomahna kitchen. Their search of Atrus and Catherine's home had turned up nothing, and they were beginning to get very worried that something even worse would happen to Yeesha whilst they were trying to work out what to do.

"I think I may have worked out who it is that's behind this," replied Brittany. "I'm not certain. But I have a fairly good idea."

"Really?" Rachel sat forward. "Who?"

"Look at it this way," said Brittany in her trademark cryptic fashion. "Who would want to kidnap Yeesha? Cause I think we have to assume that's what happened."

This puzzled all four listeners. Brittany continued after waiting a second. "She's ten years old. She gets along well with everyone. That means that there's nobody who has a grudge directly against her. Instead, that leaves two possibilities. Either, someone wants something she has. That seems unlikely. Or -"

"Someone's trying to use her to get to Atrus," finished Jordan heavily.

"Exactly," replied Brittany.

"That doesn't really narrow it down, though," said Maddy. "There's all manner of people who might want revenge on Atrus."

"That's true," said Brittany, "but it becomes more obvious who it must be when you think about it like this. Recently, Atrus has been teaching Yeesha the Art. This would doubtless have made some people jealous. Some people that Atrus had refused to teach the Art to."

"Oh, no way." Rachel cottoned on before either Jordan or Maddy did. "Not – not her brothers?"

"Who else?"

Jordan, Rachel and Maddy paused to consider this. Brittany had a point. It was not inconceivable at all that Sirrus or Achenar would have been jealous about Atrus agreeing to teach Yeesha the Art. And whilst Atrus and Catherine had hoped that twenty years alone on their respective prison ages would have reformed their sons, it was just as likely that their term of imprisonment would have made them bitter and bent on revenge.

"All right..." said Maddy eventually. "Let's say for argument's sake that one or both of Yeesha's brothers escaped their confinement and decided to kidnap her. That means that our next port of call has to be the prison ages."

"Yes," replied Brittany. "If they're still there, we know that it can't have been them. But if either of them has broken out, then it's more than likely that it was one of them. Then all we have to do is work out where she is."

"Okay," said Jordan, "in that case, here's the plan. We have to find where Atrus keeps the books linking to Spire and Haven. Once we find them, one of us goes to each age quickly to see if either brother is still there. Then, if they both are, we regroup and think again. If one of them has escaped, then Rach, Mop and I will go to that age to see if we can work out what happened."

"I'm not sitting around doing nothing!" exclaimed Brittany and Jane in unison. They shared a grin.

"You won't be doing nothing," replied Jordan tersely, "you'll be here in case something happens. Atrus or Catherine might come home, or whoever kidnapped Yeesha might come back here to confront Atrus."

"But -"

"Britt," intervened Maddy, "you can barely walk. If we're going to search the prison ages, we need to be quick about it, because we don't know how much time we have."

"And as for you, Jane," continued Jordan, "you're far too young to -"

"I am not," countered Jane immediately. "I'm ten years old -"

"Exactly -"

"- and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Anyway, I'd be with you three. And," Jane saw the doubt still on Jordan's face and played her final trump card, "I know Yeesha far better than any of you. I know how she thinks. So I'd be helpful to working out what she did after the bridge blew up."

"She makes a good case, Jordan," said Brittany, stepping up to bat for Jane. Brittany and Jane had had a very close bond for a long time now, probably stemming from the two weeks when Jordan, Rachel and Maddy were on J'nanin. Jane had come to regard Brittany as a sort of surrogate aunt – Rachel had no siblings and Jordan's brother and sister both lived in Ireland – and Brittany had credited Jane as the main reason she had started dating again, because Jane's constant cheerfulness and pearls of childlike wisdom gave her "hope for the world", in Brittany's own words.

"I agree," replied Rachel.

With both his wife and his friend now united against him, Jordan silently appealed to Maddy, who shrugged.

"I'm on their side," she said, somewhat apologetically.

"Oh, fine then. I'm surprised you agreed, Britt. I thought you'd want to have some company."

"Don't worry about that, Jordan," replied Brittany deviously. "I'll be fine."

* * *

><p>Getting there, he thinks. This would be a lot faster if he had some proper tools. But he had foolishly left all his tools behind when he broke out. So he has to improvise. Never mind... he's getting there, and with a bit of luck he'll be ready to go before someone comes looking for the girl.<p>

He walks around to the chair and begins to carefully adjust a few things on the control panel. Twenty years on, he can hardly expect everything to work smoothly. Mind you, it's not easy to concentrate with your sister struggling and shouting at you from the chair. Block her out. She'll shut up for good once he gets this chair working.

Hard to block her out. Her voice drills into his skull. He grits his teeth.

"Shut up!" She does. "Thank you. Perhaps I should explain. Maybe then you'll keep quiet."

"Fine," she says, still struggling. "Explain."

"Well, it's perfectly simple. I want to learn the Art. Father refused to teach me. He has agreed to teach you. Therefore, I am jealous of you and intend to use you to achieve my goal."

"Why would I keep quiet?"

"Because if you don't," he says with forced calm, "I will make you shut up by putting your consciousness in a small blue globe." That shuts her up. "There we go." Back to work. He compliments himself silently on his bluff – he hasn't got any empty globes at the moment. He'll need to go harvest some before he does the transfer.

* * *

><p>Jordan, Rachel, Maddy, Brittany and Jane stood in Atrus and Catherine's bedroom and surveyed the room. They were convinced that the way to get to the books must be in here somewhere.<p>

"Right..." muttered Rachel. "So how does it work? A bookshelf combination or something?"

"I don't know," replied Maddy. "Although – hang on. Jane?"

Jane had been idly staring off into the distance until she heard her name. She jolted back to the present. "Hmm?"

"When that necklace showed you that memory of Yeesha being chased. Where did she run to?"

"Into the fireplace," replied Jane, puzzled.

"Thank you. You may now resume not listening to us." Maddy turned back to the others. "The fireplace must be the way in."

"I think you must be right, Mad," said Brittany, examining it carefully. After all, on Myst they had a rotating fireplace, didn't they?"

"That's true," said Rachel, "and there is a painting of Myst hanging above the fireplace."

Maddy, who was the smallest of the four of them, crawled into the fireplace. She called back what she saw.

"Yeah, okay... there's a sort of door here... and a button to close it, I guess." The door closed. "Yep, that's what it does." She paused. "Okay, there's a sort of grid on the inside wall behind the door."

"Sort of like the one on Myst," called back Jordan.

"Yeah, exactly. I guess we have to put some sort of code in." The door slid open again and Maddy emerged. "But what?"

There was silence for a moment. Jane, twirling her hair around her finger, was seated at Atrus' desk. She idly picked up a small scrap of paper.

"Does this help?" she said suddenly, waving it in the air. Jordan plucked it from her hand and examined it quickly.

"Maybe. It looks like if we turn the lamps on, that acts like a sort of switch for the fireplace lock. So..." He turned on the lamp on Atrus' desk and the one on the bedside table. "Go back in, Mop..."

Maddy went back into the fireplace and closed the door again. "Okay, yeah... I can see a whole bunch of little red dots projected onto some of the grid squares. I suppose we just have to press those squares." There was a pause. "Ah, hang on. When you touch a square, the squares around it light up." She opened the door and crawled back out. "What is it with Atrus and puzzles that are too clever for me?"

"Let me try," said Rachel, and crawled into the fireplace. They heard her tapping away at the grid. After a minute, she called back. "Ah, I got it! So now -"

Her voice cut off and became a shriek of not quite terror but more shock, combined with the clattering of gears and a sudden thud. After a second, they heard the clattering again, and the fireplace door opened. Rachel crawled out, looking slightly shaken.

"Okay, so the fireplace is like an elevator," she said, "and it goes down to a sort of cave near the lake. I didn't see what was there before I came back up, but I'm guessing that the books must be down there."

The five of them managed to squeeze into the fireplace, which frustratingly was larger than the elevator, and Rachel elbowed the button over the door. As the door panel slid down into place, Rachel noticed that the code she had inputted was still on the grid.

"Oh, it remembers the code!" she warned suddenly. "So we're about to -"

* * *

><p>Exactly five seconds later, they picked themselves up off the floor of the fireplace and the ground outside (two of them had fallen out when the lift came to a stop) and brushed themselves off.<p>

"Why," grumbled Maddy, "is it necessary for the lift to be that fast?"

"It's Atrus," replied Rachel. "Remember what he said to us once?"

"'If it's worth doing, it's worth doing properly,'" related Brittany, struggling to get to her feet. Jordan helped her up.

Once they had picked themselves up and assured themselves that there were no new injuries, they walked slowly out into the cave, half expecting to be ambushed by Sirrus or Achenar at any moment. Rounding the corner, they came face to face with something very strange.

Nestled into the cave, with a good view of the lake beyond, was a large golden ball. It looked like it was designed to rotate – yet more security, they guessed – and inside, mounted on stands attached to the railings, were two linking books.

"Okay, we found them," said Jordan. He pulled a large lever set into the ground near them. With a thud, the ball began to rotate very slowly on its horizontal axis until it had made a half turn. They noted as it came to a stop that the books had closed and slid to the side. The now-front panel of the ball opened with a slow creak, allowing them access to the books.

"There's only room for one or two in there," commented Maddy, looking at the small area of floor that was attached to the railing such that it wouldn't rotate when the ball did.

"So what's the plan, Jordan?" asked Rachel.

"Okay, I think one of us goes to Spire and another to Haven," said Jordan, "just to see if the brothers are still there. If either of them has escaped, we conduct a search of the age, being as thorough and at the same time quick as we possibly can."

"Right. So who goes in first? You, of course, Jordan, cause it was your idea."

"Naturally," replied Jordan, smiling slightly. "Any volunteers for a second?"

"Yeah, alright," replied Maddy after nobody else did. "We're just going for a quick look to see if they've escaped, right?"

"Right." Jordan and Maddy stepped into the ball. Rachel pulled the lever again, and the ball swivelled slowly around until the books sat open in front of them. Maddy touched the panel linking to Spire and vanished with a rush of air. Jordan followed suit quickly and linked to Haven. There was silence in the cave as Rachel, Brittany and Jane stood and waited.

"So how's your foot?"

"Getting better. It doesn't hurt nearly as much now. I should be right fairly soon."

"Good. And you're getting the hang of the crutch now, I see."

"Yeah, it's a case of practice makes perfect, I suppose."

The conversation lulled again. Fortunately for both Rachel and Brittany, Maddy chose this point to link back in. Rachel rotated the ball again to let her out, and she climbed down the stairs and joined them.

"Sirrus is gone," she announced bluntly with no attempt at a prelude. "The chamber there is more or less in ruins. How he did it, I have no idea."

Jordan linked into the chamber behind them and joined them quickly.

"Well, Achenar is not on Haven. He somehow managed to ruin the chamber and get to the book. So, do we think it was him?"

"Not entirely," replied Brittany. "Maddy was just telling us that exactly the same thing happened on Spire."

Jordan paused. "Terrific. So they've both escaped." He paused, thinking hard. "Well, we're going to have to search both ages. Which one are we going to do first?"

"Hang on," intervened Brittany. "You've been saying all along how we need to be fast. You're right, obviously. So why not search both ages at once? Split into two pairs and take one each, then regroup here afterwards."

Jordan paused in his stride. "Yeah, that makes sense. Good idea, Britt.

"All right," said Maddy, taking charge, "Jordan, you and Jane search Haven. Rachel and I will take Spire."

"Hang on," interrupted Jordan. "Why not -"

"Because," Maddy counter-interrupted, "with no offence to Jane, I'd rather not be paired with her, since I have no idea how to deal with children. Plus, if you and Rachel were together, I'd spend the entire search thinking about what you were doing alone on a largish age."

Jane snickered slightly. "No offence taken, Mad."

Jordan cleared his throat, somewhat embarrassed. "Well, we wouldn't – oh, never mind. All right, Jane and I will search Haven, and you two search Spire. Britt – we'll all be back as soon as we can. If anything happens while we're gone... well, get a knife from the kitchen and sit tight, I guess."

"I was planning," replied Brittany haughtily, "in the event that something dangerous does happen, to go to Releeshahn and get someone to help me."

"That's what she was planning to do anyway," said Maddy. Jordan, Rachel and Jane all laughed as Brittany blushed.

"Go on, get out of here," she said defensively, herding Maddy and Rachel into the ball as best she could. After a quick rotation, they linked to Spire, and a minute later Jordan and Jane were sent on their way to Haven. Brittany turned away from the golden ball and made her way back to the lift, grinning widely.


	5. Crystals and Crabs

**4 – Crystals and Crabs**

Rachel and Maddy stood in front of the sculpture, somewhat in awe of it. It had been carved from the beautiful quartz crystal that was abundant throughout the small part of Spire they had seen so far, and it depicted the scene that they had seen not so long ago in the painting above the fireplace in Atrus and Catherine's bedroom.

"Why would Sirrus put so much effort into building this?" said Rachel. "It can't have been easy to construct... look at the detail." She ran a hand over the crystalline figures. They were cold and smooth to touch. The tableau was positioned perfectly, and it was a perfect recreation of the painting in Atrus and Catherine's bedroom.

"He wouldn't have put this much effort into something for no reason," mused Maddy, "even if he was stranded here with nothing to do."

"Exactly," replied Rachel, "and I'm betting the reason wasn't for its sentimental value."

They stood and looked at the vignette for a little longer, then moved on in silence.

* * *

><p>Jordan stood outside Haven's destroyed linking chamber and surveyed the landscape. This area of Haven was a fairly barren coastline, broken by the massive wrecked ship on the sharp rocks. Jordan had already noted, though, that the vast majority of the island was covered in a dense jungle. He was looking for any signs of human life, although he did not expect to see any. There was life here – birds soared, he could see crabs scuttling along the beach, and other creatures in the distance. But no human life. Unsurprising, really – why would Achenar have waited around? Surely twenty years was more than enough for him.<p>

He heard Jane behind him, and turned around. She was holding a small purse.

"Where'd you get that?"

"It was in that tray thing," replied Jane, pointing at the swivelling compartment which was presumably for passing things through the bars of the cell between visitor and prisoner. "But that doesn't matter... here, look." She gave the purse to Jordan, who turned it over in his hand.

"Seems normal to me. What am I looking at?"

"This..." Jane grabbed her father's hand and dragged it onto Yeesha's necklace, which Jane had hung around her own neck.

"Wha-"

_She stumbles. Falls briefly to her knees. Cries out – in pain? Fear? Gets up. Runs off, looking back over her shoulder._

Jordan blinked several times and shook his head slightly. He frowned.

"That was – a memory? Triggered by the purse?"

"I guess so," said Jane. "I think that means that Yeesha must have come here after she hid in the fireplace."

Jordan thought about this for a second. "Hmm. Well... I'll keep that in mind. Come on, let's go."

They walked down a short, gravelly track, which dead-ended at a small cliff face. On the ground in front of them were several crabs, which were crowded in what appeared to be puzzled awe around something shining on the ground. Jordan gave them eah a poke with his foot, and they scuttled away, leaving Jordan to pick up the shining object.

The object was made of a smooth, translucent white crystal. It appeared to be a shard of something larger, as it was broken and jagged on one edge. The non-broken part was carved into a small, crude face.

"What is that?"

"Some sort of crystal," replied Jordan.

"There was some shiny stuff on the ground in the chmber," said Jane absently, taking the crystal and turning it over in her hand. It was cold to the touch, despite Haven's warm ambient temperature. "Maybe this is -"

She stopped as the necklace chimed its clear, piercing note again. Still somewhat wary of the necklace's power, Jane touched it.

_Two men, apart for twenty years. One, thin and devious, uses his mind as chief weapon. The other, well-built and vicious, uses his strength. They circle each other. Eyes meet. False lunges. Then a real strike. The strong one pins the thin one down. The thin one pushes back. Exertion. Groaning. Sweat._

Jane jerked her hand away. She was still not used to seeing memories like that.

"What did you see this time?" asked Jordan quietly.

"Two men," murmured Jane. "Fighting."

"Who were they?"

"Dunno. Never seen them before. One was tall and thin, and the other was pretty bulky and wild-looking."

"Can I see?" Jordan took the crystal from her and touched the necklace. He murmured under his breath in surprise.

"Sirrus and Achenar..."

Jane was surprised as well. "So does that mean... Sirrus came here?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

Silence fell between them as they walked back to the linking chamber and up a roughly carved flight of stairs to a narrow flat area. To the right, they saw some large stacks of boxes and crates, whilst to the left was a cliff with a crude rope ladder hanging down it, leading to a wider beach and the wrecked ship.

"She'll be all right."

Jane looked up at her father. She sighed. "Yeah... I hope so."

* * *

><p>Rachel took a few steps back and surveyed the small area where she and Maddy stood. It was a small cave, enclosed by Spire's ubiquitous rock on all sides but one, which opened out onto the sea of clouds beyond. There was nothing special about the rock – it was exactly like all the other rock they'd seen. Out the open side of the cave, another rock spire could be seen jutting out of the clouds. On the whole, thought Rachel, this area would be incredibly dull if it wasn't so interesting. Strewn throughout the cave were various other artefacts which were obviously not natural. Several lengths of greenish wire ran along the floor, which itself was metal grates that were raised slightly from the ground. Circuit boards and other electronic equipment were positioned in various places around the cave. Most impressively of all, however, seven crystals, clamped by massive metal holders and connected by the same green wire, were suspended out over the clouds between the cave and the second spire. Judging by how far away they were, each of the metal structures was at least as big as a human, and a ball of crackling electricity glimmered above each one.<p>

"Sirrus – he must have built all this," said Rachel, somewhat awe-struck. "From scratch. It's – awe-inspiring."

"He did have twenty years," replied Maddy.

"Most people couldn't build something like this from scratch in twenty lifetimes," said Rachel. "I know I couldn't; I don't know a thing about this sort of stuff."

"That's true. And then there's the obvious lack of tools. He must have found some sort of metal ore to make all this grating." Maddy kneeled down and tapped the grating that covered the floor. It rang at her touch.

"If you say so," replied Rachel. She looked around the chamber. "There's a ladder there... we should probably move on, as interesting as I know this is for you."

Upstairs, the two of them came across what appeared to be a combined garden and laboratory. Rows and rows of unfamiliar but not particularly interesting plants filled part of the area, and the other part was taken up by a multitude of benches, with papers, crystals and plants scattered over them in what seemed like a form of organised chaos. Maddy gravitated immedaitely to Sirrus' workbenches, where she found the most fantastic array of... well, everything. Of particular interest to her, however, was a small leather-bound book lying innocently on the bench. She picked it up and flicked it open.

"Hey, Rach, look at this," she called over her shoulder. Rachel, who had been examining the garden, looked over Maddy's shoulder at the book.

"Sirrus' journal?"

"Yeah." Maddy skimmed the pages of the book quickly. "It looks like he wrote in the..." she glanced at the dates, "first year or so. He goes on about the crystals and how he harnessed them to store electricity. And he talks about how he was trying to use one of the floating rocks to construct a ship to take him over to that other spire." She paused again and flicked to the last entry. "It looks like he made a mistake in his calculations and lost his first ship. He says it set him back by years. I wonder if he ever succeeded?"

"I expect we'll find out," replied Rachel.

* * *

><p>The interior of the wrecked ship contained a lot more than either Jordan or Jane had been expecting. Upstairs (so to speak – there weren't any stairs, only ladders and ropes) they found a room which Achenar had made into his makeshift bedroom. They found his journal on the bed, which described Achenar's vendetta against some sort of sea monster which had attempted to kill him. Both Jordan and Jane recalled seeing the skeleton of a massive creature lying on the beach. It certainly matched the drawing in the book – perhaps Achenar had succeeded in killing the creature after all. The journal ended after the creature's attack on Achenar, after which he swore vengeance on the creature using his typical colourful turn of phrase.<p>

"'As death is my witness, I will decorate my kingdom with your bones.'" Jordan closed the book. "The man is nuts."

"I dunno, Dad," said Jane. "He goes on and on about the intelligence of this thing. If it's that smart, and he managed to kill it, he must have outsmarted it."

"That's true," replied Jordan after a brief hesitation. "How would he kill something of that size? It must have been, what, three times his size?"

"More," said Jane, who was better at judging scale than her father. "The skull on the beach was bigger than me. Five times his size, I think, at least."

"Astonishing," murmured Jordan under his breath. "But you're right. Something of that size and intellect, he couldn't have just taken it on. He would have had to plan his attack."

Downstairs, the two of them found a sort of lab set up. There was a variety of hunting tools, including crude bear traps and a variety of spears. On the desk, however, was a small bellows. Jordan, in a moment of rash action, poked the bellows. A jet of greenish gas shot out the end and enveloped both him and Jane. Instantly, Jordan's head began to swim and he felt dizzy. He blinked several times and shook his head. After a short while, his vision cleared.

"That was weird," said Jane, who had experienced the same thing. "Some sort of knockout gas?"

"I suppose so," replied Jordan. "Why would he want to refine it like this? It looks like he's even liquefied it," he added, noticing a small bottle filled with green liquid.

"As a weapon?" suggested Jane. "He talks about hunting all sorts of animals in his journal."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Still, seems like a lot of effort to go to."

"It's not like he was pressed for time."

* * *

><p>The static electricity in the air was making Maddy's hair stand on end, which was a sight that would cheer anyone up. Rachel pulled her phone out and snapped a picture before Maddy turned around.<p>

"I think... I think I got it to work."

The two of them went down to the area with all the electrical equipment. Floating in the harbour was a large rock, with a small entrance hatch in the top. A bridge had extended from the area where they stood to meet the top of the ship.

"So... shall we?"

* * *

><p>There was a small makeshift tent sitting in the clearing. Realising what this could hold, Jordan and Jane began to approach, but paused when the tent shuddered violently. The two of them froze and looked at one another.<p>

"Wind?" mouthed Jane silently. The tent shuddered again. Jordan licked a finger and held it up, then shook his head. They crept closer.

There was a sudden shriek from inside the tent, and a tall animal emerged from the tent and ran directly into them, throwing them both violently to the side and towards the cliff edge.

Jane frantically grabbed at the first thing she felt, which happened to be Jordan. Jordan grabbed at the first thing he felt, which happened to be the tent.

The next discovery that Jordan and Jane made was that Achenar had not mastered the art of properly anchoring tents into the ground. Things escalated from there.


End file.
